Car bomb at Colombia police academy kills several: officials

At least eight people have been killed and 10 others injured after a car bomb exploded at a police academy in the Colombian capital Bogota, the Defense Ministry on Thursday. 

The scene outside the General Santander Police School in southern Bogota was chaotic in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, with ambulances and helicopters rushing to the normally tightly controlled facility. 

Witnesses told the Associated Press they heard a loud explosion that destroyed windows in adjacent buildings. 

Rafael Trujillo said he was delivering a care package to his son Gerson, who entered the school two days ago, when he was stopped in his tracks by the blast a block away from the school’s heavily fortified entrance.

“I’m sad and very worried because I don’t have any information about my son,” said Trujillo, standing outside the facility, where police officers had set up a taped perimeter. “This reminds me of some very sad days in the past.”

Video and photos posted by local media of the scene showed what appeared to be the remanets of a vehicle on fire. Windows of nearby buildings had also been shattered. Local media, citing unnamed authorities, reported that dozens were injured. 

In this image provided by military personnel, emergency personnel respond to the scene of a deadly car bombing at a police academy in Bogota [Handout/AP Photo]

‘Colombia does not bend in the face of violence’

Bogota Mayor Enrique Penalosa condemned the “terrorist act” and said an investigation is under way. 

President Ivan Duque tweeted that “all Colombians reject terrorism, and we are united to confront it”. 

He added, “Colombia is sad, but does not to bend in the face of violence”. 

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Security forces stand guard outside the police cadet training school in Bogota [Juan Barreto/AFP]

For decades, residents of Bogota lived in fear of being caught in a bombing by leftist rebels or Pablo Escobar’s Medellin drug cartel. But as Colombia’s conflict has wound down, security has improved and attacks have become less frequent.

In 2016, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a landmark peace agreement, which saw members of the rebel group put down their arms. 

But peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) have been on and off, with the leftist rebel group stepping up attacks on police targets amid a standoff with right-wing President Duque. Last year the ELN accused Duque of trying to “shatter” the peace process by adding conditions to the resumption of the process. 

Thursday’s bombing was the deadliest in the capital since an explosion at the upscale Centro Andino shopping mall in June 2017 killed three people, including a French woman, and injured 11 others. Police later arrested several suspected members of a far-left urban rebel group called the People Revolutionary’s Movement for the bombing.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies